Saturday, November 21, 2009

but it's getting close.Enter CROSSHAIRS/Iron Curtain. Now, interlinked miniature radars will instantly detect and track any fast-moving projectile in the vicinity, pinpointing the location of the firer and swivelling the vehicle's turret guns onto target. If the incoming RPG seems likely to actually hit, the Iron Curtain system arms itself and, as the warhead comes close, a countermunition mounted on the edge of the vehicle's roof fires downward and blasts it.

The downward-angling countermunitions are meant to avoid any snags with the system inadvertently blowing away innocent bystanders or shooting up the scenery. Provided nobody is standing too close by, all should be well.

Meanwhile, even as the RPG is being blasted in midair, CROSSHAIRS - if necessary without human input - is raking the place it was fired from with a hail of fire from a .50-calibre heavy machine gun, automatic grenade launcher or whatever the MRAP has in its top mount. Trucks within a convoy will cooperate automatically using a digital network, sharing out targets and hopefully avoiding any unfortunate friendly-fire accidents. It's possible to have a human check first before the trucks cut loose, but not necessary.David Drake, call your office; do you have some kind of royalties you can ask on this? I mean, rocket-assisted artillery, counter-battery radar and GPS-guided shells, THEL and now...

I love this description:Given that we're talking here about an array of automated weaponry able to pick a speeding rocket out of the air while simultaneously shooting dead the person who fired it, the identity of the agency behind CROSSHAIRS will not surprise many regular readers. It is of course DARPA, the leather-clad motorcycling lone wolf your mother forbids you to have anything to do with of the metaphorical boffinry-bureau-boyfriend community.

for someone daring to point out to Holder "There really is stuff here you need to investigate."In response to the Columbia Journalism Review’s accusing me of “blackmailing” the Attorney General of the United States, I must take notice that the mainstream media as a journalistic establishment IS paying attention to the ongoing ACORN scandal. Good. I thought so.

What the Columbia Journalism Review is doing is very similar to what Media Matters is doing: protecting the Democrat-Media Complex, the natural alliance of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media. This ACORN investigation has been going on for two months and Hannah, James, and I have proven to be truth-tellers every step of the way, while the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now has been proven time and again to be liars.And it appears that the only way to get AG Holder to stop giving rights to terrorists and to stop looking on gun owners as the enemy is to say "Investigate, or we start releasing more of the tapes before the next election."

That it seems to be taking that to make A: Holder even consider criminal investigations of ACORN and B: the major media say anything about this mess is disgusting.

Drawing reasonable conclusions from what Holder publicly said, we now know:

• Holder wants a national, permanent gun registration system administered by law enforcement. A registration of honest citizens that have cleared the federal background check for gun purchases with those records permanently retained by and shared among law enforcement.

• Holder wants new federal authority to prohibit any person on the federal watch list (reported to be 400,000 names) from buying guns and supports confiscating guns from those on the list who possess them.

I held off on bringing this release to the attention of Gun Rights Examiner readers because I wanted to corroborate the claims--which, unfortunately, the official transcript of Holder's prepared remarks, posted on the Justice Department website, do not.

So I contacted LEAA and spoke last night with their Chief Operating Officer and national spokesman, Ted Deeds. He told me they were reporting on remarks made during questioning, and sent me a transcript of the appropriate segments of AG Holder's testimony:

This bastard is more solicitous of the 'rights' of terrorists and illegal combatants than he is of honest people in the US who own, or want to own, guns.

that support the 'consensus' being pushed; you could call this 'The hidden rape of the scientific method'.A scientific scandal is casting a shadow over a number of recent peer-reviewed climate papers.

At least eight papers purporting to reconstruct the historical temperature record times may need to be revisited, with significant implications for contemporary climate studies, the basis of the IPCC's assessments. A number of these involve senior climatologists at the British climate research centre CRU at the University East Anglia. In every case, peer review failed to pick up the errors.

They're specifically referring to tree-ring research that was conducted. And, it seems, cherry-picked. With a very damn long pole.In particular, since 2000, a large number of peer-reviewed climate papers have incorporated data from trees at the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. This dataset gained favour, curiously superseding a newer and larger data set from nearby. The older Yamal trees indicated pronounced and dramatic uptick in temperatures.

How could this be? Scientists have ensured much of the measurement data used in the reconstructions remains a secret - failing to fulfill procedures to archive the raw data. Without the raw data, other scientists could not reproduce the results. The most prestigious peer reviewed journals, including Nature and Science, were reluctant to demand the data from contributors. Until now, that is.Take careful note of that: they refused the basic rule of releasing data so it could be cross-checked by others. AND two of the 'most prestigious' journals didn't push for it; gee, I wonder why?At the insistence of editors of the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions B the data has leaked into the open - and Yamal's mystery is no more.

From this we know that the Yamal data set uses just 12 trees from a larger set to produce its dramatic recent trend. Yet many more were cored, and a larger data set (of 34) from the vicinity shows no dramatic recent warming, and warmer temperatures in the middle ages.Remember some of the stuff in the e-mails about getting rid of the Medieval Warm Period?In all there are 252 cores in the CRU Yamal data set, of which ten were alive 1990. All 12 cores selected show strong growth since the mid-19th century. The implication is clear: the dozen were cherry-picked.

(This oversimplifies the story somewhat: for more detail, read this fascinating narrative by blogger BishopHill here (http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2009/9/29/the-yamal-implosion.html).)

Further along,Controversy has been raging since 1995, when an explosive paper by Keith Briffa (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa/) at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia asserted that that the medieval warm period was actually really cold, and recent warming is unusually warm. Both archaeology and the historical accounts, Briffa was declaring, were bunk. Briffa relied on just three cores from Siberia to demonstrate this.This isn't just cherry-picking, they genetically engineered the damn things to get the result they wanted, so as to try to hide and deny the facts.

Good thing I don't have a job for the True Believers to go after. 'Course, they're rather busy right now anyway, both going after climate scientists who actually believe in science and defending themselves from possible criminal charges(can you say 'deleting records subject to FOIA requests?)

With the mist and fog I can work inside without feeling guilty about not climbing trees and pruning and such, and concentrate on browsing around onlineresearch. And loading. I've got a whole pile of bullets ready to go, and I need to load some 7.62x54r, 7.5x55 and .30-06 practice loads. Maybe some .380. I need to go through the Immediate-Use Stockpile and see if I'm short of anything else. And need to process all the brass from the other day- both fired and found- so that's out of the way; good day for it. And makes sure I've got shooty goodness for the next range trip.

Just to note, I've triedBerry's, Rainier and X-Treme plated bullets now, and had good results out of all of them. If you've not messed with them they're basically a swaged lead bullet that's copper plated; you can't load as hot as a regular jacketed, but you don't get lead fouling in the bore(unless you really push the velocity; then you can). I've been using the Berry's .32 hollow-base wadcutter for 7.62 Nagant, I've shot a bunch of Berry's and Rainier 200-grain flatnose .45acp, and Dad's used the X-Treme 210-grain flatnose in .41 Mag; not a problem with any of them. Dad prefers the X-Treme for .41 as it has a cannelure; Berry's doesn't, and Rainier doesn't make a .41. Also, if you're looking for bulk buys, Berry's and X-Treme have free shipping above a certain price, and Midway often has 'buy 2000, free shipping' deals, which with the weight of bullets is very good*.

Sen. Harry Reid is going to try to shove through a vote to allow debate on the abortion result he calls a 'health care' bill today. You want to know how bad this crap is?Ryan Ellis of Americans for Tax Reform notes that the bill contains 18 separate tax increases — one of them targeting parents of disabled children.

“One of them caps the amount that can be deferred in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) at $2500 per year (a similar provision was included in the Pelosi-Obama health bill),” Ellis notes.

“There is currently no limit to how much can be saved, though all monies must be used by the end of the year. Employers may put a cap in place for their employees, but this would put a cap in federal tax law for the first time. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 30 million American families use an FSA,” he explained.Reid, you suck. I mean, you really suck; you're a miserable human being. And let's not forget the various other senators pushing this steaming pile on us, including those being bribed like Landrieu, who's apparently willing to be bought with 100 million dollars of other peoples money. Add this to what Coburn revealed the other day, and right now I'd settle for a tiny little meteor that only takes out the Senate(yes, I'd prefer the House too, but right now I'd settle for the one). Oh, and on the bribery and corruption front,One provision epitomizes the nature of this ploy. According to research firms, unions are woefully short of funds to pay their retirees’ anticipated insurance claims. Thus, under the House resolution, union leaders who have mismanaged these plans for their members could receive up to $10 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout money, innocuously referred to as a “reinsurance program.”

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Under the proposed public option, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius would wield tremendous discretionary authority to regulate participating health care workers. She and various federal panels, where the unions would have guaranteed seats, would take the lead in recommending health care policy. Thus, labor would have considerable influence over decisions affecting most doctors, nurses and patients.Malkin's got a list of people and groups being bribed.

And over here, we have the bullcrap being spread by SEIU to try to cover up threatening the Boy Scouts and any other volunteers; includes link to the 'misunderstood' audio.

Here's another opinion on the Obama & Holder Show Trial Of The- Damn Near Forever:Kohl's question is highly pertinent, and Holder simply evaded it. No one is suggesting that failure to win and sustain a conviction is an "option," but it is a contingency for which it is shocking that the administration is, or at least claims to be, unprepared.

Further, Obama's and Holder's assurances that KSM will be convicted (and, according to the president, "put to death") make a mockery of due process. Nothing is more fundamental to America's criminal justice system than the presumption of innocence, and if terrorist detainees are to be treated as criminal defendants, they are entitled to that presumption.

For the sake of political expediency, Obama and Holder are refusing even to make a pretense of respect for due process. If KSM & Co. are convicted and put to death, America's critics and enemies will point to Obama and Holder's assurances in arguing that the defendants were subjected to sham justice. Nice work restoring America's moral standing, Mr. President.

I just realized I need bread. And parmesan to make more spiced olive oil. And some onions. Crap, I was hoping to stay in. Oh well, shopping I go.

Friday, November 20, 2009

set up? Well, the damn things apparently still around:FBI officials have said a military investigator on the task force saw the e-mails and looked up Hasan's record, but finding nothing particularly worrisome, the investigator neither sought nor got permission to pass the e-mails on to other military officials.

But the senior defense official has countered that the rules of the task force prevented that military representative from passing the records on without approval from other members of the task force.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said it appears there was enough information available to law enforcement, the military and intelligence agencies to raise alarm bells about Hasan but no one connected the dots.

So the God-damned Senate can't bother to read things before passing them, and these bastards still can't do- in some cases the good ones aren't allowed to do- the damned job.

C'mon, Deity, just one little asteriod when these clowns are in session...

and why he's doing it so much; from his newsletter:Every week, the Senate routinely passes legislation that is never voted on, never debated, and rarely, if ever, read by the full Senate. Now surely, you say, this process is reserved for non-controversial bills like renaming post offices or honoring the Super Bowl champions, right?

Wrong. The “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” regularly passes major legislation that creates new programs and authorizes billions in new spending without you knowing until after the fact.

The game works this way: the leaders of both parties send an email and recorded phone message to each Senate office notifying them they would like to pass certain bills sometime that day by unanimous consent. If no senator calls his or her party leader to object, it usually passes at the close of business that day without a recorded vote. Sometimes, I am given just a few minutes to read lengthy bills, and unless I pick up the phone to object (“hold”), it is considered passed by the US Senate.

I would be willing to bet that few senators even take the time to read the request, let alone the bill. Worse, the decision is usually left to an unelected staff member.

And they expect you to find out by noting the bill’s passage in the congressional record on the day after passage.

They call this process “unanimous consent” when in reality it is consent by default.

Apparently the 'true believer' sites are bitching about the hacking and saying absolutely nothing about the content; big surprise, huh?

Update: remember Mann and the 'hockey stick' graph that turned out to be bull? He's involved:Dr. Mann was implicated in the global warming email conspiracy. It was reported on several websites today that classified emails and files prove that the junk scientists behind the global warming movement knowingly perpetrated a fraud on the global community. Mann’s name came up in several of the emails. The posted material, which includes e-mails allegedly sent by the CRU’s director Phil Jones to fellow climate researchers, including Michael Mann at Pennsylvania State University in University Park.

Update 2: the more people go through these files, the worse it gets:Jones, head of the CRU unit whose emails were leaked, has been under most fire so far over one email in particular in which he boasted of using a ‘“trick" to “hide the decline” that would have otherwise spoiled his graph showing temperatures soaring ever-upward.

(Note: in saying that, I should add that these emails may simply be poorly worded, out of context or even altered by the whistleblower who leaked them. Jones may also not knowingly have done anything wrong, and there is no proof that he did anything against the law.)He may not have known he was quite possibly breaking law, but he damn well knew he was violating the most basic rules of the scientific method, and for that alone he deserves to have his ass handed to him.

That last, in some ways, is the worst of all about this. In a comment on an earlier post Wolfwalker said, in part, This story hurts. I don't want to believe it. But so far it doesn't look good at all. And if it's true, if they've really been fudging and falsifying data, and intentionally censoring the scientific press, then heads should roll in large quantities.

We must be able to trust our scientists and engineers.And it's exactly that trust that these people have been taking advantage of, and destroying. The damage won't just stop here, either, it's going to cause problems for a whole lot of people. "Look at all the lies these people pushed; why the hell should we trust them on ANYTHING!?" will be the attitude of many, and it- unfortunately- is a damned good question.

Forget everything else: one of the basic rules of the scientific method is the information has to be studied by others, tested and tried by others for errors or missed data or misinterpretation; and these people deliberately hid information, refused to allow others to review their data and even hid or destroyed information to keep others from reviewing it. The violation of basic ethics is disgusting.

One of Hasan’s commanding officers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Guerrero, told investigators she had considered failing him as an intern but “decided to allow him to pass since he was going into psychiatry and would not be doing any real patient care.”

Just consider that for a second. OK.

Guerrero told ABC News his performance problems stemmed from his lack of competence in the intensive care unit, including problems with recommending the proper medications or coming up with the right kind of patient treatment plan.

Words fail me. And LtC Guerrero needs her ass demoted to something useful, like Murtha detail at a FOB somewhere.

The director of the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit confirmed that the e-mails are genuine — and Australian publication Investigate and the Australian Herald-Sun report that those e-mails expose a conspiracy to hide detrimental information from the public that argues against global warming (via Watt’s Up With That):

The internet is on fire this morning with confirmation computers at one of the world’s leading climate research centres were hacked, and the information released on the internet.

A 62 megabyte zip file, containing around 160 megabytes of emails, pdfs and other documents, has been confirmed as genuine by the head of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, Dr Phil Jones.

In an exclusive interview with Investigate magazine’s TGIF Edition, Jones confirms his organization has been hacked, and the data flying all over the internet appears to have come from his organisation.

“It was a hacker. We were aware of this about three or four days ago that someone had hacked into our system and taken and copied loads of data files and emails.”

One of the most damning e-mails published comes from Dr. Jones himself. In an e-mail from almost exactly ten years ago, Jones appears to discuss a method of overlaying data of temperature declines with repetitive, false data of higher temperatures:

Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or first thing tomorrow. I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd [sic] from1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline. Mike’s series got the annual land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999 for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998.

Thanks for the comments, Ray.

Cheers, PhilProf. Phil JonesClimatic Research Unit

Every 'scientist' who had a hand in this should be shamed at the least. And should be thrown out of whatever position they hold for fraud and screwing with the information.

Hit the range the other day with a friend; good becauseHe hadn't been in quite a while, andWe hadn't gone together in even longer.So we made lots of holes in targets. One of the things I had to do was sight in; I had a pistol scope I'd taken off the Trailside, and found some extra-high rings and mounted it on the 15-22.The rings fit right onto the rail as they should. And, amazingly, it only took about three clicks left and two up to put it dead-on at fifty yards. I will note that it would actually have fit my face better with even higher rings, but this is what I had(do they make extra-extra high rings? Need to look).

It was blowing like hell yesterday, which did not help, and the angle of the sun was giving me some glare on the front lens; not ideal conditions for ammo testing. But, results so far, of the ammo I've tried, the most accurate out of this are Centurion 40-grain solidsand the real surprise, Eley SportBeing lazy, instead of putting up another target for these I just held on the 12; no, I couldn't actually see the '12', just held where I knew it should be. The two to the right are called flyers, and I wasn't trying real hard for the best groups(see 'hell, blowing like' above); just steadied on the mark and squeezed off, and got this. And that's 20 rounds. The accuracy wasn't a surprise, I've had good results from this ammo before, but it's standard velocity stuff so most autoloaders won't reliably feed it(just not enough energy to fully cycle the action) ; yet it cycled through perfectly. You could tell from the sound and recoil it's a lighter load, but no failure to feed, cock or anything else. Impressive from the rifle.

Just to prove that I can actually shoot decently(sometimes), I'd taken the Martini model 8 along, and managed to fire this group at 50 yardsalso with Eley Sport. And that's sitting at a bench, elbows rested and using the sling. I'll excuseblame the not as good groups from the S&W mostly on a little difficulty keeping the eye properly aligned(see 'rings' above), and it's quite possible that with some match ammo it might do much better; I just find it very easy to shoot good groups with this old BSA. I'll throw in that with the iron sights on the S&W, I actually managed equal to slightly better groups(with the Centurion) last time; sometimes a scope has its own problems.

I'm not real familiar with the AR-type platforms, does using a sling on them help with accuracy? Or is it not helpful with this rifle type?

On ammo, has anyone else noticed the variability in the recent batches of bulk-pack ammo? Out of some Remington Golden Bullet I got everything from proper high-velocity 'cracks' to one that damn near sounded like a CB cartridge, and some in between; not good for accuracy. And similary variability(not quite as bad) from some Federal 36-grain HP.

Friend had something along he picked up recently, and I'll try to get a good picture of it later: a Husqvarna single-shot bolt rifle in .32-20. Octagonal barrel, still has a lot of the colors from the case-hardening showing on the bolt and receiver, nice walnut stock; lovely thing. And a very good trigger; it shot very nicely.

Patterico has a prosecutor's view on the idiot decision to move the terrorists and illegal combatants to civil courts:Although Hot Air and others have linked the clip, I haven’t seen anyone else focus on this particular statement, which I found very revealing. Commentators (including myself) have been arguing that Holder and Obama chose federal court because they thought they could win anyway, and make some Grand Point about due process. But this quote indicates that Holder and Obama actually think they have a better chance in federal court.

Combine that with Holder’s frank admission (which he quickly backed off of) that he might not choose this forum if he were not confident of success:

If I was concerned about the forum not leading to a positive result or if I had a concern — a different concern, you know, we would perhaps be in a different place.

And you can see that what we have is an administration that is choosing where to try the detainees, not based on some principle or neutral protocol (as they claim), but based on where they can win. They’re rigging the game.

And if they lose, they won’t let him go anyway.

This is just further evidence that the KSM trial will be a show trial.Yeah. And it looks so good for the "We will show what a fair trial is" bullshit, doesn't it? Great for the image, and all. And let's note this from earlier:Gotcha. Hey, anything else going on? Let’s read on to paragraph 12 of the article, shall we?

Administration officials say they expect that as many as 40 of the 215 detainees at Guantanamo will be tried in federal court or military commissions. About 90 others have been cleared for repatriation or resettlement in a third country, and about 75 more have been deemed too dangerous to release but cannot be prosecuted because of evidentiary issues and limits on the use of classified material.

We told you about this category in earlier posts. The concept of holding people without trials was discussed by Obama in a May speech. In May, Karl fleshed out the details: some detainees will be held because we can’t try them — and some might even be tried and acquitted . . . and then held nevertheless.

Kinda makes KSM’s trial seem like a show trial, huh?

Hey, President B. Hussein Cartman Obama, if you'd make a damned decision instead of playing games while our troops are fighting and dying, you wouldn't have to worry so much about leaks, now would you?

I do sympathize with these students, having gone through kids finding out tuition & fees are going up- again- twice; it's tempered by the thought that most of these people probably thought having the state of CA take care of everything for them by taxing the life out of everyone(every else, that is) was just fine; but now that there's nobody left to tax to death, and they'll have to pay more... Probably a bunch of them working part- or full-time to pay their tuition and fees and bullcrap, and some with parents trying hard to cover it, they're the ones really getting screwed.Update: look at this crap:Mark Yudof, president of the UC Board of Regents, noted that students who come from families earning less than $70,000 will pay no tuition whatsoever, thanks to financial aid programs.

"If you make less than $70,000 a year, you will not pay any fees. You not only won't pay the increase, you won't pay the base. And if you make between $70,000 and $120,000, we'll pay half of the increase in the initial year. So the access is still there," said Yudof ...And that's just not good enough for them. Damn.

I guess SEIU is a bunch of thugs no matter who they have to threaten to keep their image up:Last week at a city council meeting in Allentown, Pa., a top official of the local Services Employee International Union chapter ranted about 17-year-old Scout Kevin Anderson’s park clean-up work. Anderson devoted some 200 hours to the job in order to earn an Eagle Scout badge. He picked up trash and helped clear a 1,000-foot walking path with fellow members of Boy Scouts Troop 301 of Center Valley.But SEIU’s Nick Balzano gave them hell instead of thanks.

Balzano disparaged altruistic efforts in city parks and asserted that “there is (sic) to be no volunteers” since his union members were laid off. He then issued a witch hunt threat: “We’ll also be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails. We may file another grievance on that.” Citing union rules, he gave the Allentown city council, the Boy Scouts, and all potential volunteers an iron-fisted ultimatum: “None of them can pick up a hoe. They can’t pick up a shovel. They can’t plant a flower. They can’t clear a bicycle path. They can’t do anything. Our people do that.”......SEIU headquarters in Washington immediately blamed “the disreputable Fox News and other right-wing outlets like Michelle Malkin’s accuracy challenged blog” for the backlash. While decrying their critics’ “fiction,” SEIU distanced itself from Balzano, denying that he was a top union leader and dismissing his remarks as “unauthorized.”

Fact: U.S. Department of Labor records from 2008 (their most recent filing), show that Balzano is no rogue, rank-and-file member. He currently serves on the SEIU local’s Executive Board and previously served as president.

Fact: The union tried to minimize Balzano’s grievance threat as “inappropriate.” But the dirty open secret is that public-sector unions have routinely attacked volunteer workers who threaten their stranglehold.

Last June, union officials in Baraboo, Wisconsin filed a complaint against volunteer firefighters who built sandbag barricades to protect the city from record flooding. They whined that city Department of Public Works employees should have been called first and demanded overtime pay (for work they didn’t do) to compensate them.Wonderful bunch of union people, aren't they?

More "You can speak out and work to influence bills; as long as you agree with what I think" from a Democrat.

Just wonderful how the justice system is working in Missouri with County Counselor Patricia Redington:One wonders just what exactly if anything new is being done. Three months seems a long time to wait to bring charges, especially in the case of Kelly Owens, where the incident is on video camera and witnessed by a police office. The answer given by Redington is noncommittal, and basically says ‘we’re looking into it.’ But are they? The pressure of the police report, the line drawn between St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch and the Obama truth squads, and the background stories on Perry Molens and Kelly Owens got local citizens up in arms and interested KMOX reporter Kevin Killeen enough to ask some questions. This is Redington’s response to Killeen’s questions.

Six people were arrested by St. Louis County Police, with at least two suspects booked on suspicion of assault. But the person who will decide whether to file charges, St. Louis County Counselor Patricia Redington, is still sorting it all out. “There were multiple altercations and police involvement,” Redington said. “We’re looking at the whole evening and the charges that may be filed as a result of that.”

Redington says there were half a dozen possible criminal incidents at that event and she plans to announce her findings all at the same time. She did not give KMOX a timetable for the announcement. But, according to Redington, the incident, ‘definitely has not been swept under the rug.’”

It’s interesting that Redington says the incident is not being swept under the rug. I wonder if she would admit that it has been slowed to a crawl so as not to bring to light the fact that five HCAN supporters were arrested the week that Margarida Jorde sent out instructions on how to counter Townhalls? And let’s not forget Jake Wagman, the silenced reporter arrested that night. If the Post Dispatch had done their job as a news organization and asked a single question about the event anytime after August 14th, perhaps we wouldn’t still be waiting to find out if it’s acceptable to punch and kick your political opponents to send a message. It is only when KMOX contacts Redington that we hear the investigation is moving forward. And yet the question remains whether Redington is telling the whole truth, or counting on the local press to cut her some slack.

One of the many immigrants who became a U.S. Citizen. And has done damn well, for self and country:Boy Who Fled Vietnam as a Boat Person Returns 34 Years Later as the Commander of a US Navy Destroyer In 1975 when he was 5 years old Hung Ba Le and his family escaped Vietnam in a fishing boat and were eventually rescued by a US Navy ship. Later they settled in Virginia. Now 34 years later Le is commander of the US Lassen which made a goodwill visit to Danang last week.Escaped with nothing from a communist dictatorship, and made it to this? Worked his ass off to get there. Good for him.

Jesse Jackson is still a racist bastard; can you imagine if someone said "You can't be white and support this bill!" ?

President Obama, you suck. You're putting off making a decision, by doing so you're putting these troops lives in more danger AND endangering this country, and you stand there and tell them they're a good photo-op? You just flat suck.

Speaking of sucky politicians, Sen. Chuck Schumer is a high-rating member of that class.

connected with ACORN, I'd be worried:Not only are there more tapes, it’s not just ACORN. And this message is to Attorney General Holder: I want you to know that we have more tapes, it’s not just ACORN, and we’re going to hold out until the next election cycle, or else if you want to do a clean investigation, we will give you the rest of what we have, we will comply with you, we will give you the documentation we have from countless ACORN whistleblowers who want to come forward but are fearful of this organization and the retribution that they fear that this is a dangerous organization. So if you get into an investigation, we will give you the tapes; if you don’t give us the tapes, we will revisit these tapes come election time.

This is downright nervy, on multiple levels. And makes you wonder what all the hell they caught on tape, and what names and people, and...

And just why no other media found any of this, or even bothered to look.

something else comes along to lower the level.The problem is, last night I learned about something awful that happened while millions of ordinary citizens who simply tried to live their lives did nothing to stop it. Someone has to be responsible, but who?

I honestly don't know. Not only do I hate to be a scold, I don't know who to scold for this damnable atrocity that befell this country in May and June of 2008 (while I and most bloggers were busy writing post about the impending election).

I refer to the 2008 Farm Bill (also known as the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, aka Public Law 110-246). To call it a law would be dishonest in the extreme. To attempt to summarize it would be impossible because of its vastness, so this post will focus on just one minor detail in the bill -- the federalization and criminalization of wood

Hell with shooting them: the people who pass this crap deserve a rope.

won't sink to?Lavelle Stewart, of ACORN in South Central Los Angeles, tells us she thinks we have to hook up with “someone who’s on that international sex business level,” that “14 and 15 year olds been traveling overseas for years,” that she can do independent research for us, and that she has had meetings with Porn magnate Larry Flynt. As for laundering the sex money into my faux political campaign, Lavelle says, “there are ways, people do it all the time. Yeah there are ways, especially out here in California.”Yes, more videos. Which I'm sure we'll be told are 'out of context' or something.

clowns: not only has he been soft on terrorists before, he's got staff who've been defending them:One reason it has taken so long to deal with the Guantanamo cases is the number of legal challenges lodged by lawyers for the detainees, some of whom are now working on detainee matters in the Obama Justice Department. At Wednesday's Judiciary Committee hearing, amid discussion of Holder's decision to grant 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed full American constitutional rights, the issue was brought up by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, who told the attorney general:

I want to know more about who is advising you on these decisions. There are attorneys at the Justice Department working on this issue who either represented Guantanamo detainees, or worked for groups who advocated for them. This prior representation I think creates a conflict of interest problems for these individuals.

This ought to be pretty straightforward. You'd think.

Would you provide me and members of the committee with the following information? The names of political appointees in your department who represent detainees or who work for organizations advocating on their behalf? The cases or projects that these appointees work with respect to detainee prior to joining the Justice Department? And the cases or projects relating to detainees that have worked on since joining the Justice Department? Would you please provide that information to me and the committee?

It seemed a reasonable request, but Holder appeared decidedly cool to the idea. "Yes, I will certainly consider that request," he said. "But I want to make sure that you understand that the people in the department understand their ethical obligations. And to the extent that recusals are appropriate on the basis of prior representations or prior connections, people in the department have recused themselves from specific cases."

"But I asked you for information," Grassley responded. "Will you provide it?"

"I will consider that request," Holder repeated, adding that the lawyers involved are "fine public servants" and "patriots" who have "national security uppermost in their minds."

Grassley still wanted an answer. "The very least you can give me is a list of the recusals," he said.

"I will consider that," Holder said again.Absolute friggin' bullshit. And he knows it. So he tried to excuse himself:When I said I would "consider," I only meant to say that I don't know if there are ethical concerns with regard to attorney-client privilege and things of that nature, and I need to consider those before I would actually be able to respond to the question. So I didn't mean to say that I was not being -- trying not to be responsive or not taking seriously a question that was posed I guess initially by Senator Grassley…I just wanted to talk to the experts back at the department about whether there was an ethical concern in responding to the question.More absolute effing bullshit. From a clapped-out bull. The committee damn well has a- not a right, a need for that information, and Holder doesn't want to give it.

More Hopey!Changey!! from Obama's minions. With the level of ethics we expected.

Sen. Reid's(Evil Party Slimy-NV) 'health care reform' bill is BIGGER than the monstrosity Pelosi shoved through. And contains lots of tax increases, and penalties and fines if you don't do what you're told. And Reid's full of shit when he claims 'savings' in this mess. And, just to top it off, it's 2,074 pages and senators will have 3 friggin' days to supposedly read and understand this pile of crap before voting on it.

Attorney General Holder is a fool. And I have to consider him as deliberately acting for the harm of this country. Did he actually think there'd be no real questions of him on this? Or did he think the magical Aura of Obama would protect him?

It would be really nice if Jimmy Carter would just shut the hell up and go away.

Opinions, people: when the "He's so SMART!!!" Obama made this statement:
...“I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him,” Obama told NBC’s Chuck Todd...
was he
A: Just too damn stupid to realize the consequences of what he was saying,
B: TRYING to screw with the coming show trial,
C: Trying to show what a tough guy he is without considering just what the hell he was saying,
D: some combination of the above?
We've got a idiot AG who's already said that even if Khalid is acquitted he won't be released, now we've got the President saying this... Makes you wonder about this:
The next question is if the Obama administration has intentionally setup a show trial for one man with a predetermined outcome and penalty, they've just proven they're OK with the notion of rigging civilian trials.

That is a pretty chilling revelation.
And wouldn't surprise me; socialists and communists have a long tradition of rigging trials.

braved enemy fire to pipe Allied troops ashore at Sword Beach during the Normandy landings in 1944. He was unarmed and German soldiers did not shoot him because they thought that he was mad.The French of the area are putting up a statue to honor the man.

Top Obama donor and fundraiser Jodie Evans met with the Taliban in Afghanistan on a recent trip there, according to a report by Jane Fonda of a discussion she had with Evans last month. The meeting with the Taliban took place just weeks before Evans was videotaped directly handing to President Barack Obama a package of information about her trip to Afghanistan at a high dollar fundraiser in San Francisco.Well, isn't THAT just so, special.The meeting with the Taliban was kept secret by Evans and her group Code Pink in reports she and the group posted from Kabul and in interviews with the media and bloggers about the trip. Fonda, a close friend of Evans, let the secret meeting slip in an account of her dinner with Evans at a fundraiser for the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles:

And, let we leave someone out and feeling unappreciated,Evans notes that she gave a similar package to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who was also at the fundraiser being held in her city.

No mention is made by Evans on whether she relayed oral or written messages from the Taliban to Obama. However, it is a strong possibility given Fonda’s revelation and Code Pink’s history.

So, Jane Fonda is still a traitor, hanging out with traitors, and Obama is friendly with these traitors. Wonderful thing in a President, isn't it? As it was put at Theo's, "While these boys are working.... your President's betraying them."

Brings a whole new dimension to why he may be spending so much time deciding whether or not to send more troops, doesn't it?

sea:Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Tuesday around 6:30 a.m. local time, firing on the ship with automatic weapons from about 300 yards (meters) away, a statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said.

An on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said.Good ending, right? Pirates run off, nobody on the ship harmed, good deal. Not according to the Seagoing Brady Affiliate:However, Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said the international maritime community was still "solidly against" armed guards aboard vessels at sea, but that American ships have taken a different line than the rest of the international community.

"Shipping companies are still pretty much overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of armed guards," Middleton said. "Lots of private security companies employee people who don't have maritime experience. Also, there's the idea that it's the responsibility of states and navies to provide security. I would think it's a step backward if we start privatizing security of the shipping trade."Translation: "Don't do this yourself, you need Experts to save you from the pirates!" Except you don't, as this shows. I find it very curious that these companies would rather face a ship being taken and crew killed than hire people- or train crew, for that matter- to defend the ship. As for waiting for 'states and navies' to save you,Underscoring the danger, a self-proclaimed pirate said Wednesday that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday had died of wounds suffered during the ship's hijacking. The pirate, Sa'id, who gave only one name for fear of reprisals, said the captain died Tuesday night from internal bleeding.andPirates have greatly increased their attacks in recent weeks after seasonal rains subsided. On Tuesday, a self-proclaimed pirate said that Somali hijackers had been paid $3.3 million for the release of 36 crew members from a Spanish vessel held for more than six weeks — a clear demonstration of how lucrative the trade can be for impoverished Somalis.

Yeah, MUCH better to hope that some navy ship will be handy to save you, rather than trust some gun-toting seagoing rednecks(you think that's not how they see it?); after all, the people on the navy ship will be Minions of a State, therefore you should defer your safety to them. Right?

And through my general skittishness and protectiveness, I'm perceiving this as a major-league, big-time question. If you're a woman, you hate her because she's beautiful, famous, happily married, a devoted mother, and strong enough to endure an unending media assault indistinguishable for all intents and purposes from gang rape? Really? You hate her? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? What I know for sure: I don't ever want to be in your bed or have you in any part of my life. You're a cunt.

If you're a man, you hate her because she's beautiful, famous, happily married, a devoted mother, and strong enough to endure an unending media assault indistinguishable for all intents and purposes from gang rape? Really? You hate her? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? What I know for sure: I don't want you as a friend, an in-law, a colleague, a business acquaintance, or even the stranger sitting next to me on a barstool. ......

I despise Barack Obama more than I've ever despised any politician. I believe he's a conscious enemy of the United States of America. I don't much like his wife either. But if Republicans did to Michelle Obama and her daughters what Democrats and "nonpartisan" journalists have done to Sarah Palin and her family, I would be outraged to the point of foaming-at-the-mouth fury. It's unspeakable, despicable, so far beneath contempt as to be inhuman.

So what does it really mean that so many highly educated and well connected liberals hate Sarah Palin enough to demand the right to inspect her uterus, endlessly republish Photoshop fakes of her in lewd circumstances, and denounce every single aspect of her identity as a woman, a mother, and a person?

to crimes by protected species:Madam Justice Lynn Ratushny of the Ontario Superior Court did a good thing Tuesday. She sentenced a man to a year in jail for threatening his daughter with violence. She also identified his deed for what it was: a crime of honour, committed in the name of a “seriously dangerous belief system.”...Many groups – not just Muslim ones – refuse to admit the existence of honour crimes in Canada. After all, they point out, domestic violence is universal. As Mr. Al Mezel's lawyer argued at his sentencing hearing, “What you have is a loving and caring father who thought his daughter was on the wrong path.”

The judge didn't buy it. She found that this particular father believed that violence is a wholly justified response to female disobedience. Mr. Al Mezel, she said, “deliberately and repeatedly invok[ed] the concept of violence against her in the name of honour.”A very important point: there is a difference between someone who's a general jerk who threatens or hurts a family member, and one who believes he's religiously compelled to do it.* The general jerk can often get the idea that "We'll drop on you like a ton of bricks if you do it" and back off; the "Deity/Sacred Law orders me to do it" jerk often will not since he thinks he's compelled by said higher order to do it. Which makes the latter more likely to carry through(generally speaking), and when the boob is a member of a protected species far more likely to get the benefit of stupidity on the part of many observers and legal authorities. For instance, the reluctance of many to call this crap what it is: a crime of 'honor'. At least this judge wouldn't back off.

*from here on is an addition; a comment made me see that I'd not completed my thought originally.

Holland & Holland arms, for some reason, just make me want to spend all my money on them. Which would be depressingly easy to do, have you seen the prices on them?

Usually at the Tulsa show there are some, but they're all in cases and, unless you wave a checkbook to show serious interest, 'hands off'. But this time, two men had about a dozen different double rifles, including this H&H in .470NE, in racks and you could fondhandle them. I've seen them before, but this is the first time was able to actually handle one; work the action, aim it, etc.

Heavy? Yes. Balanced? Like a fine shotgun. And, unfortunately, the damn thing fit me like a glove: bring it to the shoulder and the sights were just there, perfectly lined on the target. The action worked like fine machinery should, smooth and tight. Magnificent piece of work, and at the bargain price of $29,000.

What? Hell, no; I'd have to sell the house and use half the money to pay for it. And while ammo is available, last time I looked Midway had some Federal on closeout and it was down to $214/box. For 20 rounds. Talk about a need for handloading... And no, I haven't checked the price of brass.

Actually, the only Holland & Holland piece I've ever actually fired was a #4MkI(T) sniper a guy has. If you're not familiar with those, during WWII the Brits took #4 rifles that showed best accuracy and sent them to H&H where they worked their magic on the trigger, receiver & barrel, set everything just right in the stock & forend, and installed the mount bases and scope. This thing, with 40-year old ball ammo, was shooting 1 to 1.5" groups at 100 yards.

In my defense, I can say I don't badmouth other makes in deference to the Holy Brand, I just really really like H&H. And want one desperately. So I promise not to turn into one of Correia's H&K fanboys, and I'll continue to laugh at them like everybody else.

No, I'm not going to sell the house to buy it; I really like them, but not that much.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

who wrote a book about interrogations, you may need to borrow the book from the library and read it. From the sound of this, you don't want to buy it and put money in his pocket.Something I began to notice when I got his DD214 and after reading his book (about 4 times) is that this Matthew Alexander is quite different from the Matthew Alexander I saw in his interviews. This is a very studly record for an Air Force Officer, and the book is an excellent story about an aspect of the war in Iraq that’s not often discussed. I highly recommend the book…from your local library. Unfortunately, any money you pay for the book will go into the pocket of the Matthew Alexander who was on the book tour. That Matthew Alexander is a liar and has an agenda.

this is window dressing.“Casey is looking at a panel that will look longitudinally across Hasan’s entire career to figure out how did this happen and what can we do to stop it from happening again,” said the Army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the announcement of such a group remains pending.First the idiot statement about 'diversity' being of such great importance after 13 murders and many wounded, now this.

The gentleman also notesFort Hood massacre suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sought to have some of his patients prosecuted for war crimes based on statements they made during psychiatric sessions with him, a captain who served on the base said Monday.Oh, THAT'S going to help a lot: "Speak freely to your counselor. No, just ignore that, please." Yeah. Right. Part of the problem with this crap is that the way Hasan was thinking and acting, God only knows what he considered a 'war crime'. And we cannot forget that while he was doing this to his patients, the Army found no reason to do something about him. Even when it was added to all the other stuff we know about.

he 'only consulted with his wife and brother' before deciding to screw our legal system, you're a fool. And Holder is a liar:Paterson also said that the White House warned him six months ago this very situation would happen.

Hey, he's worked to pardon terrorists before for political reasons, did you think he'd stop now?

MANAGUA – An arsenal of military weaponry seized over the weekend in the province of Matagalpa belonged to a cell of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, Nicaraguan authorities said Monday.

The National Police said Monday in a communique that the arsenal – including 58 assault rifles, two mortars, 10 grenades, 30 sticks of TNT and 19,236 rounds of ammunition – “were being transported by members of the Sinaloa cartel” in a pickup truck with Nicaraguan plates.And since I rather doubt someone would take illegal arms from here to bloody Nicaragua to sneak into Mexico...

Detroit has a really weird definition of 'victim', it seems. So weird that they changed it in the story; I guess someone pointed out that calling the attacker the 'victim' wasn't really accurate, or something.

Quick history: This little beast was made from 1922 to 1935, and is based on the(you DO know who designed that, don't you? [/Tam]) Browning patent. Made in both .22LR and Short(some parts are not interchangeable), it came in five grades, from Standard to Premier. The LR model holds ten rounds, the Short fifteen. I had a chance to fire one before, and liked it, so when I ran across this one...

Remington says they made a little over 130,000 of these in both cartridges; more of the LR seem to have survived, I suspect because so many of the Shorts were bought as gallery guns and were used to death. This one has the marks that indicate it was a gallery piece, but it survived.

Took it to the range this morning(after a minimum cleaning) and tried it out. Recoil, as you might expect, is almost not there. Good trigger, breaking clean and light, and it placed the shots where aimed; I'll wait for any fine adjustments and groups till I have a solid rest. Had a few failures of the empty to clear the action; some semi-autos can be picky about ammo(all I had was some old Winchester Super-X), but there was also the possibility a serious detail-strip and cleaning would take care of it. Remember the 'used to death' part? Got home, and while disassembling it the recoil spring broke, right in the middle; from the looks of it it was kinked at some point and has been working up to the fracture ever since. Not a big problem, as springs are available. And something of a testimony to the spring: from the gunk inside it's been probably decades since it was actually cleaned, which means the thing kept working for unknown years after the kink. Considering that according to the date codes(which can be found here) this was made in 1931...

It's a fine little rifle, and I'm going to enjoy being the caretaker for a while.

paid $1,155 in back personal property taxes and related fees so that she can succeed Democratic state representative Talibdin El-Amin, who resigned after he pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in September.

This clears her to be her party’s nominee and win the seat in a special election, as Republicans likely will nominate no one.

In paying her taxes only to qualify for a government position Whitehead — an attorney — joins several people appointed by President Obama who failed to pay all their taxes — in one case for 16 years — until they landed a plum government.

Most notable was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, whose responsibilities include overseeing the IRS.

El-Amin, his wife, and his father-in-law have been snared in a federal corruption investigation. The father-in-law’s crime?

Tax evasion.

Isn't it wonderful how many of these clowns suddenly pay their taxes when it'll help them get in office?

Pro-commie Che supporters with the radical ANSWER Coalition beat up tea party protesters at a Fort Lauderdale rally this past weekend. The goons were caught on camera:Video at the link.

If the prosecutors here play the same games as the clowns in Missouri about not wanting to charge the SEIU thugs, I hope the victims sue them. And sue the people who attacked them. For large numbers.

And it must be said, one of these days these thugs will do this to someone ready and able to fight back. At which time we'll hear whining about "They hurt us!" and the politicians will try to charge those who defended themselves. Again, lawsuit(less messy than tar & feathers, though much less satisfying) if at all possible, and make damn sure their names and actions/inactions are broadcast loud and far, especially the politicians.

the people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as if they were plain old criminals. Partly because I'm so pissed: part of me still expects these clowns in DC to act like the give a damn about the U.S. and it's very, ah, let's use 'upsetting' to be slapped in the face with what amounts to "We don't", or "We're so smart we really don't know what we're doing", or- just maybe- "What better way to damage the system so we have an excuse to screw it around to our liking?"

There's a good piece(there's a lot around, but I'll use this one) here, which includesNothing good will come of this trial.

If it is conducted outside the bounds of normal civil law, it will be nothing but a corrupt show trial whose outcome was preordained by politicians. Instead of showing the world that America is a land of laws in which even our enemies receive fair treatment, it will show the world the opposite.

If it is conducted within the bounds of normal civil law, then it will force the courts to choose between letting a mass murdering terrorist walk free and setting dangerous legal precedents that will undermine the basic civil rights of all Americans.

Obama has unleashed something in America far, far more dangerous than any excesses Bush might have committed. He has taken all the horrible compromises we must make in war and driven them into the heart of the civil legal system. If the courts do not set Khalid Sheikh Mohammed free, the cancer of martial law will metastasize into the entire justice system.

I have to wonder if this isn't part of the plan. Obama appointed an AG who has a soft spot for terrorists, and himself seems to be awfully sympathetic to those who attack this country, and they've shown a contempt for the history and traditions and law; he may have intended all along to do this. Not only to give the people who attacked us, and fought our troops, a way out of a military tribunal, but to whack at our ability to fight them. And, I think, to go after Bush and his appointees; one thing we've found is that Obama is a nasty little backstabber.*. And the intelligence people. He's given the terrorists a chance to subpoena all kinds of people and put them under oath, to subpoena all kinds of records, and the only reason to do that is to A: damage the system and B: attack people who don't think the 'right' way. Which pretty much means those who want to defeat the enemy, who want to WIN the war that Obama doesn't even want to call a war.

Yeah, that Hopey!Changey!! is working out real well, isn't it?

*Remember his attacks on the intelligence people, then having to run over to the CIA and try to assure the people there- who were ready to get the hell out, or else do nothing- that he wasn't really intending to go after them for doing their job(those who actually did)? Think they believed him?

Monday, November 16, 2009

in other countries:In October there was a flurry of news stories about the largest solar panel plant in the United States, located on 180 acres of land, 80 miles southeast of Tampa. Naturally, President Obama paid a visit to the Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center because he is a big booster of renewable energy. He keeps telling everyone that it will generate hundreds, if not thousands, of new “green” jobs.

What the President didn’t say during his visit was that the solar panels and other items were manufactured in nations other than the United States. The solar cells came from the Philippines. The steel mountings were made in Canada. The electric boxes were manufactured in Germany.

The project did generate some 400 temporary jobs, but how many full time jobs will the new Florida installation generate? The total comes to two full-time employees and six part-time groundskeepers who will work one week a month during the rainy season.

And here’s where it just gets totally obscene. The Desoto facilities and two other Florida Power and Light solar facilities will generate enough electricity to power just 3,000 homes of the 4,000,000-plus accounts served by Florida’s largest utility.

Less than 4% of Florida’s energy needs will be met by this $150 million facility. Meanwhile, proposed coal-fired and nuclear plants are fought to a standstill by environmentalists.

just why these clowns don't want the directives public? Unless they're forced to release them?TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches said the new "internal directives" are meant to ensure their screeners are consistent. She acknowledged the policy on large sums of cash had changed, but wouldn't provide a copy of either document. She said the directives would not be released unless a Freedom Of Information Act request was submitted by The Washington Times.

"TSA routinely assesses its policies and screening procedures to ensure the highest levels of security nationwide," she said. "Currency alone is not a threat, and TSA does not restrict the amount of currency a traveler may carry through the checkpoint."

TSA had earlier defended the search, though it had criticized officers' abusive behavior."Yes, they were just fine in screwing with him for having cash and daring to ask questions, but they should have been more temperate in their language." Just effing wonderful, isn't it?

by Senior Sgt. Mark Todd. They're not sure if Munley got a shot into him before she fell, then Todd came on the scene and popped him.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, Munley damn well deserves the praise she's had; she ran into the fight to stop the bad guy and did her best. Same for Sgt. Todd. Both deserve praise.

Question becomes, why all the credit given to Munley for a while? Someone thought the idea of a female officer taking Hasan down so good they didn't bother to get the whole story?

In any case,In an interview on Wednesday, Sergeant Todd’s wife, Lisa, said he had asked the Army to protect his identity in the immediate aftermath of the shootings. Her husband did not consider himself to be the real hero of the day, she said. “They were in this together,” she said.Definitely sounds like someone you'd want at your back.

'Justice System'.The court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden.

In his statement, he said: "I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges.

"I didn't know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him.

"At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall."

Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells.Stupid cops, you say? Add in idiot prosecutorsProsecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a "strict liability" charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.

Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.And a judge who needs to have that gavel shoved up his ass, as that's the only way to reach his brainJudge Christopher Critchlow said: "This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.

"The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant."

Got all that? Well, it gets even better:He also showed jurors a leaflet printed by Surrey Police explaining to citizens what they can do at a police station, which included "reporting found firearms".

Quizzing officer Garnett, who arrested Mr Clarke, he asked: "Are you aware of any notice issued by Surrey Police, or any publicity given to, telling citizens that if they find a firearm the only thing they should do is not touch it, report it by telephone, and not take it into a police station?"

To which, Mr Garnett replied: "No, I don't believe so."

Guy finds gun. Guy takes it to police to turn it in, and they arrest him. With NO ARGUMENT about the facts- that he found it and turned it in to the cops- they charge him with a crime. And the judge says 'no defence' because 'intent does not matter'.Added: I'll make you a bet: if he'd left it there and called the cops, and it disappeared before they bothered to arrive, he'd have been charged with not 'securing' it somehow. AND quite possibly been charged with possession anyway("You already told us you had a gun, so you're guilty!")

............

And then we add in a bunch of shitheads as a jury. It only took them 20 minutes to convict the man on an absolutely bullshit charge.

Britain is fucked. And so is anyone there who gives a damn about the concept of justice.

Update: Kevin had a commenter point him to this about an earlier brush with- well, either 'the Law' or 'officialdom'- where this gentleman came out on top. Which is making people wonder if Mr. Clarke was set up, to make him regret- and warn other people not to, in any way- standing in the way of the little bastards screwing with their lives. Considering what the 'justice' system is like over there, and the level of 'Big Brother is in control, don't piss him off' attitude in government, it wouldn't surprise me.

Obama giving the Crotch Salute. At the Tomb of the Unknowns. On Veteran's Day.

He bows to foreign rulers, but he can't put his stinking hand over the region where his heart is supposed to be as a sign of respect for this country, for these fallen troops.

McQ says Typically self-absorbed, I’m sure he just completely forgot this particular ceremony wasn’t all about him. I don't think so; I think he does this just as deliberately as his bows to foreign kings. He does it to show this country as subservient; and he does this to show his contempt for this country and it's military.

A DEADLY plague could sweep across Europe, doctors fear, after an outbreak of a virus in Ukraine plunged the country and its neighbours into a state of panic.

A cocktail of three flu viruses are reported to have mutated into a single pneumonic plague, which it is believed may be far more dangerous than swine flu. The death toll has reached 189 and more than 1 million people have been infected, most of them in the nine regions of Western Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko has called in the World Health Organisation and a team of nine specialists are carrying out tests in Kiev and Lviv to identify the virus. Samples have been sent to London for analysis.

President Yushchenko said: “People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century.”'Inconceivable'[/sicilian accent], no; unusual, yes. Possibly three viruses getting together and mutating? Would be rare and unusual as hell, but I would think is possible(I am not a virologist, nor do I play one on blog). Whatever it is, sounds nasty as hell. The Random Nuke gentleman had a post on this a while back, and this new information doesn't sound any better; maybe worse.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

again. I was off at the big Tulsa Gun Show with Dad; lots of shooty goodness and some real reminders of what the economy is like: fewer people- especially today- and lots less business done. At about noon, where it was real busy in previous years, many fewer people around, and a number of dealers saying sales were way down.

And when I get home, check mail & such, and find thiscrap: Obama found another member of foreign royalty to bow down to.

Dammit, it makes me wish I'd bought ammo. A LOT of it. We may need it at this rate when some bozos decides that since the President is such a subservient wuss that he won't mind all that much if they attack us.

By the way, Mr. President,"The Chinese internet has been flooded with pages and pictures praising Obama and comparing him to Mao Zedong."It may be a surprise to you, but being compared happily to the worst mass-murderer in world history is NOT a friggin' compliment. Unless, of course, you LIKE said slimeball.

Oh, for God's sake- I was about to publish when found this. Our freaking PRESIDENT apparently still can't bring himself to behave properly.

Shit. I guess he's too busy trying to figure how to betray the troops in Afghanistan and the US in general to be bothered with such things. After all, why salute a nation he doesn't like?

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.